1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an editing apparatus which exchanges data between a plurality of windows on which a plurality of application programs for processing data of a sequence program operates to edit the sequence program.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a control device such as a programmable controller, a sequence program is executed by a microprocessor to perform sequence control. The sequence program loads an application for editing a sequence program on a general-purpose personal computer to design a sequence program on the personal computer. The designed sequence program simulates a sequence operation of the program on the personal computer. A simulation result is verified, and the verification result is returned to the sequence program and debugged, thereby completing a sequence program. The completed sequence program is transferred to the programmable controller.
The sequence program is popularly designed by a ladder graphic language obtained by applying a ladder graphic. The ladder graphic expresses contents and procedures of control by sequentially arranging symbols of a relay, a coil, and the like, graphics expressing functions, and data and labels related to the symbols and the graphics along a sequence between power lines.
On the other hand, a general data processing device including a multi-window or a multi-task environment can use a function called a “cut-and-paste” function or a “copy-and-paste” function. This function is a function of fetching data processed by an application operated on another window in an application operated on one window, so that the data can be exchanged between the windows.
In this function, although a data exchange between a plurality of windows is performed through a temporary storage area called a “clip board”, a data format which can be handled through the “clip board” is limited to a character code or bitmap data. For this reason, the data format cannot be handled by a ladder program described in the ladder graphic language, so that it is disadvantageously impossible to use a function such as the “cut-and-paste” function in editing of a sequence program of a ladder graphic. A solution for the problem is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-319416.
In this patent document, when data of a sequence program used in a programmable controller such as a ladder graphic is exchanged between a plurality of windows, a shared data area for storing data to be given to another window is provided. The data passes through the shared data area to make it possible to exchange ladder graphic data or the like between the plurality of windows.
According to data processing disclosed in the patent document, a plurality of applications runs to make it possible to copy, paste, and edit a sequence program between the applications. However, a symbol or comment information cannot be disadvantageously edited by copy.
When the sequence program is edited on a screen by the data processing described above, editing is performed such that the sequence program is copied and then pasted on another program to make it easy to edit the sequence program on a ladder graphic. However, this editing cannot cope with a symbol or comment information.
In a general sequence program, not only a ladder program described in a ladder graphic language, but also a description of symbol/comment, or the like used in the sequence program are described.
The sequence program itself can be subjected to an editing operation such as copy and paste. However, with respect to the symbol or the comment information, address regions of respective sequence programs and available instruction words are arbitrarily described by a designer. For this reason, address regions in which symbols and comment information can be used in units of sequence programs, available instruction words, and the like are uniquely set and are not shared. When the type of a programmable controller in a copy source is different from the type of a programmable controller in a destination where the sequence program is pasted, address regions in which the symbols and comment information can be used, available instruction words, and the like are different from each other.
For this reason, information about symbols or comments of the sequence program cannot be edited on an editing screen of the program, and the information must be manually input on a symbol/comment editing screen. For this reason, a long period of time is required for an editing operation.